Women in the Middle Ages

1
Women in the Middle Ages

• Daniel Downey, Jen Zellner, Frances Kim, Sharda
  Mundada, Abbey Kim

2
Jobs for Women in the Middle Ages

• Mostly housewives
• Common work cooking, baking bread, sewing,
  weaving, and spinning
• Some women hunted for food
• Fought in battles
  
• Midwives worked in fields
• Witches capable of sorcery and healing
• Also could hold jobs as blacksmiths, merchants,
  spinners, and bakers

3
Roles in the church

• A womans role in the church was as a nun

4
Literate women

• Taught to read but not to write? Queen of
  England Eleanor of Aquitaine

5
Marie de France

• Earliest French poet
• Fables and lais
• Very popular- translated into many different
  languages

6
Nuns

• Taught to read portions of Bible
• Some taught to write
• Heloise- communicate with Abelard by
  writing-Also taught other nuns

7
Women involved in politics

• Only wealthy women were involved in politics.
• Their politics were on an international scale.
• Queens often waited for their husbands to leave
  for The Crusades or some other war to begin
  changes at home.

8
Rights Women had in the Middle Ages

• Hold property
• Receive inheritance
• Participate in trade
• Go to court
• Even though they had all these rights, they were
  always under a mans control
• Before marriage they had obey father and after
  marriage, their husband

9
Prostitution

• Considered a sin by Church
• Thought to be morally wrong
• Most people felt prostitutes should reform
  sanctuaries were set up specifically to help
  prostitutes
• Somewhat tolerated and thought to be a lesser
  sin
• Many felt it was used as protection against rape
  and seduction
• Took place mostly in urban areas
• Men from all walks of life participated, not only
  the poor
• Specific dress code was often placed on
  prostitutes for restriction
• Cities often earned money off the enterprise by
  creating brothels

10
Witch Hunts

• Witch hunts meant the prosecution of millions of
  individuals who were thought to have a connection
  with the Devil, 85 of which were women.
• The witch hunts brought about the submission of
  women in society.
• One of the causes of the witch hunts was the
  decline of the Mother Deity, whose worship the
  Church had tolerated for years. With that fall,
  womens political base fell.
• At the same time, women were becoming more
  excluded in the Christian Church.
• Convents were soon disbanded and womens
  education had the sole purpose of teaching
  religion to others.

11
View of Women in the Middle Ages in comparison to
Ancient Rome and Greece
Middle Ages
Ancient Rome and Greece

• The view of women in the middle ages was that the
  wife was nearly equal to their husband.
• It was also true that higher ranked women were
  given respect by lower class males.
• Men were supposed to be courteous to females.
• Lower class women worked in the fields with their
  husbands and fathers.

• Women were considered to be lower then men.
• It was not nearly as important for men to be
  courteous to women.
• Women were to stay at home and care for the
  children.

12
Important Women

• Queen Isabella I of Spain 1451-1504
• Ruled with husband Ferdinand
• Expelled Moors form Granada
• Drove unconverted Jews out of Spain
• Supported Christopher Columbus on his voyage
• Queen Margaret 1353-1412
• Ruled and helped unify Denmark, Sweden, and
  Norway
• Brought political, social, and military peace to
  Denmark, Sweden, and Norway
• Helped form future European Politics
• Used a royal court system
• Gave large donations to Catholic Church

13

• Christine de Pisan 1364-1431
• Famous French poet and philosopher
• Became first women in France to earn a living by
  writing
• Worked to allow women to participate in society
• Worked to portray women fairly in literature
• Some view her as the first feminist